Traffic along the Daunne section of the East–West Highway will be halted at night for an additional 15 days to carry out repair and expansion works. Traffic will remain suspended until May 14 to facilitate the construction work.

According to a notice issued by the Department of Roads, vehicular movement will be stopped daily from 11pm to 5am.

Bhavishwar Pandey, chief district officer of Nawalparasi East, said that due to the ongoing construction activities, traffic will be halted every night during the specified hours.

“Repair and construction works are being intensified by halting traffic at night in the Daunne section,” he said. “The decision to stop traffic for a few more days was made to complete the remaining hillside cutting before the monsoon.”

Previously, traffic had been restricted along the Daunne stretch from March 9 to March 13 between 11am and 3pm, and from April 13 onwards, restrictions were imposed at night from 11pm to 5am, allowing only emergency vehicles to operate.

Currently, hillside cutting and culvert construction works are underway, said Shiv Khanal, information officer of the project’s eastern section.

Shashank Mishra, information officer of the western section of the Narayanghat–Butwal Road Expansion Project, said that traffic is being halted to expedite the expansion works.

The road section, which includes the 14-kilometre Daunne hill stretch, is currently under expansion. Over 18,000 vehicles use the route daily. Travel time through this stretch now exceeds three hours, worsened by heavy dust and repeated traffic jams.